Wheel covers and trim rings have long been in use on motor vehicles both to protect and decorate the wheel. One of the major problems associated with wheel trim has been to design reliable and inexpensive retention means to removably secure the trim to the wheel. In use, wheels are subjected to environmental extremes, substantial vibration, etc., and yet the retention means must still permit the trim to be easily removed. Compounding this problem is the desire to keep the cost of the trim as low as possible, to minimize interference with the aesthetic design of the trim, and to prevent annoying rattling of relative rotation of the wheel and its trim.
One technique employed to secure wheel trim utilizes a ring containing a plurality of biting members cantilevered from the trim at its outer edge. The lack of backing ring or lower attachment point in this cantilevered arrangement permits the possibility of the biting members becoming deformed due to rough handling and/or extended use, thereby lessening the gripping force exerted by the teeth.
On trim having a backing ring, retention members are often attached by crimping the edge of the trim over upper and lower edges of the retention member. This thus creates a more secure and durable retention means but increases the cost due to the necessity of two crimping operations.
A third arrangement comprises riveting or welding a toothed member to a backing ring. Again, this poses an additional manufacturing step, thus increasing costs, and also requires a relatively heavy gauge metal backing ring to retain the rivets, etc.
It is, therefore, a primary objective of the present invention to provide improved means for retaining wheel trim which will reliably handle light weight trim and which is extremely economical to manufacture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved economical means for attaching retention clips to wheel trim, which also results in a simplification of assembly procedures.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide improved means for retaining a wheel trim or the like utilizing a plastic backing ring.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide improved means for retaining wheel trim or the like utilizing a reduced gauge metal backing ring.